doris -- pussycat pet stores ♪ >> i would like to emphasize this will have a negative impact on my everyday business. i think people see it as a high and 30 -- high end boutique, but the meat of my business is pet supplies. i cannot lose a fraction of my business. i am a single mother raising my son. i pay rent and taxes. my financial needs are high. in this economy, none of us can afford to lose our jobs.

>> next speaker. >> ion a store located in the marina, and i am here to represent district 2. first of all, he does have a good voice. we are not multimillionaire's. we do not have high-paid lobbyists. i appreciate when the supervisors listen. we also do not have a communications director on full- time express.

we are small, hard working businesses. we really are, and my speech is to talk about how benevolent we are as small business owners. there are a couple of supervisors i hope will listen to how challenging it is to be able to compete with not only this chain store but also the perspective of the other big chain stores potentially coming. i feel it is appropriate to give a few examples as to how benevolent. of the gives thousands of dollars to the organization and rigid bobb -- bobby give thousands of dollars to the organization paws, and they have

taken donations from pet food express fear reagan -- pet food express. >> thank you very much. next speaker please. >> i have listened to the controversy, and i see how the conflict of interest with the small organizations feel like they would bay ltd. from competing. perhaps you can get together under one umbrella and possibly the same title name, or you can work together to keep all of your jobs and survive under this

corporate takeover so all of you can work together. think of that. >> are there any other members of the public who wish to speak on behalf? >> they needed a conditional use from the planning

commission. this section also outlines the criteria the planning commission must use. the commission has to use -- look at the additional proposals, the availability of similar uses, the compatibility with the architectural character of the aerator, -- of the area and the existing use of neighborhood.

the commission found that all of the criteria were met. the department uses a quarter mile radius. we do not go any further. that is a benchmark established for a variety of other uses. we look at a quarter mile radius when we look at concentrations. in an edition, because the district is extremely small, it consists of -- in addition, because the district is m-- small it consists of a number of

different districts. on california street, there is a generic commercial district. our staff looked at those districts when we calculated what was in the immediate neighborhood. we found there are no retail pet stores in the quarter mile. westbound california street, there are a few stores that do have some pet food materials. they are largely drug stores and not focused on pet food material. the existing store front has been vacant and is a large spots suited for this business. -- large pet stores suited for this business. pet food express will fit in with the surrounding area. the commission found that food

express is desirable for the neighborhood. it will require a little physical observations, provide on-site parking encourage and services not found in the area. i am available for questions. >> thank you very much. i wonder if you could comment on an issue we kept hearing from members of the community about, and that is the issue of the impact it would have on small pet stores within the vicinity, and there was an interesting statement made with respect to issue six, where your response,

and i think it is on page 6 -- you indicated there are no other comparable pet food or supply stores, and you determine the proposed use would not have an unfair advantage, because they would not be in direct competition with them. i wonder if you could elaborate on that, because the store would be in direct competition with other businesses within the city, so i am wondering what you base this statement on. >> the department said there would be no direct competition in the immediate neighborhood. there may be some competition

through the city, but the department cannot evaluate that on a citywide basis. >> i can repeat it again. you say there were no other comparable supply stores and that the produce would not have an unfair advantage over the rest of the city, because they would not be in direct competition with them, so i wonder what you base this statement on, because making that statement about the rest of the city is a pretty broad statement. >> i believe that should have ended with will not be in direct competition with the immediate vicinity. the department did not evaluate

the issues. i am saying it should have an adjacent plaza at the end of the sentence. >> it is surprising, because when we get a report, we assume you meant what you write, and you wrote that the store would not be in direct competition with other stores and other parts of the city. you did not mean that statement in your report? that was not meant to reflect what the planning department believes? >> we cannot make a blanket statement one way or the other. we do not have the information or the data. the planning department has the ability to evaluate one particular business's impact on

the whole. >> this should be stricken. is that when you are saying? >> the line should be stricken. >> is there any other line you did not mean to include? >> i do not recall anything. >> maybe you can go through and let us know if there is anything else that should not be unfair. -- should not be in there. >> what is before us is one additional pet food express. if we were to reject this and allow it to go forward, what if two more came before us. is there any point the planning

department would have a concern that it would be predatory, or is that not how the department looks at these things? i came in when we had the appeal on toyota and starbucks thinking i was going to go in one direction, and when i heard the testimony of the neighborhood, i could not support for melo retail, so what is more interesting is to understand -- support formula retail, so what is more important is to understand, if you want to come up with another one, you need to go to the southeast part of the

city. is there any guidance we are going to get, or are we honor anna -- on our own for this one? >> i think the issue is the basis by which we do our analysis. the reason most are in conditional uses is we look at them on a case by case basis. we look at the immediate area, and that is a comfortable walking distance to reagan where is it there might be competition -- that is a comfortable distance. where is it there might be competition? i do not think we would be equipped to answer the

question, because five involves much higher analysis we would not be able to conduct, so when we come to make our recommendations, we are making them in the context. >> part of the advocacy is it is an old school side. it has not been utilized for several years, and it has tons of parking. you are offering people parking, which is a premium.

you are applying a mom and pop standards, and it is not an easy sight to fill, so i feel like you are having in both ways. >> my only response would be to analyze what the impacts of small1 business has on the city as of hall, i would argue no one can do it at five level. -- as such a level. youit is a very complicated and difficult analysis i would argue

very few people could do. >> you have a real niche market, which is high and pet food. richard hig -- high end have food. when levi strauss approached me about coming in to the castro, one thing we did is sold jeans in the neighborhood, and we were able to establish only two businesses were going head-to- head. that was the bases that relieves the tension and let other competing retailers feel they

have a place to go. these retailers are saying, we cannot carry it, and it does seem like it is having a bigger impact. those are relative terms you should be thinking about. >> is there any response? >> one response is it is extremely difficult to cap the number or type of businesses that can come in. downtown has no formula control.

that is why we've seen in -- why you see this. a dea-- they did not ban it out right. they said, please evaluate on a case by case basis. it did not say we are only going to allow one pet food store. there's no cap on the number of pet food shops during gun -- us pet food shops. if the food express did come for a third or fourth or fifth location, we would look headwear it is located -- look at where it is located and if it is

appropriate. we said it is not necessary. it is a case by case basis. >> it seems you have a narrow definition of area and you are looking at. there is no similar formula of retail. that determines the outcome of the analysis. you could have a number of formula of retail establishments outside the quarter mile.

it would not lead to the conclusion that it would have a negative impact on the businesses. that is the danger to the approach. that is problematic. >> you could argue that you are going to be limiting businesses'. it is going to capture a much larger amount. we use a quarter mile because it as a comfortable walking distance. if you use a mile radius, it is down on the other side.

while there may be businesses in that mile, i would be hard- pressed to say someone would walk all the way to presidio and california to buy a large bed of cat food. we can argue both sides of that point. >> i do not know if that is the right approach. if it is in a quarter mile, then i think it opens the door to a number of possibilities that may undermine the language. i think the analysis is too narrow.

people have other forms of transportation, and the impact can remain. that is the concern i have with the narrow approach you are taking. >> just to read off the comments, i agree that the methodology needs updating, that this helps the planning department realize that being able to evaluate the level of competition between chain store formula of retail and existing small business needs to be upgraded, and in my district, we

have a ban on pet shops. i have also reverse some bans that have occurred. there were once too many restaurants. now they are insufficient. this is something that requires seasonable monitoring so we are able to support small businesses. ending the quarter mile radius comes close to the -- i think a quarter mile radius comes close to the district.

the applicant has great charity, but as it relates to planning, i think this brings to light that we need something different. >> thank you. a number of people testified there are also fears of fed co coming in -- pet co coming in. i no pet food express is a locally-grown chain, but it is still the eighth largest in the u.s. could you give us an awareness of the other at food stores coming our way as well? >> there are no others pending right now all.

the director is unfamiliar with them as well. there are other businesses, but not for pet food. >> somebody said there may be a pet smart coming on van ness at some point. that worries me whether there is a need for so many formula of retail stores, and i do see it as not equal with other pet food stores, whether there are a quarter of a mile, mile and a half, and i do see significant opposition from the people who love written to us -- who have written to us, and is it compatible? i think we're going to hear from the product sponsors, but there

are so many questions about methodology, that i do not see it as sufficient. i would like to see a larger radius when we are dealing with unique stores. even smaller places like about 2 miles away, but i would like to see idifferent methodology. >> the quarter mile radius is only one thing to look at. we looked at a quarter mile radius but also looked at the adjacent village. this is just one criteria we looked at. that is not the only factor. i wanted to clarify.

supervisor chu: i know you indicated this is the site currently vacated. i just wonder if there were other projects that had been proposed for the site. >> this is not a difficult fight. this particular shopping mall has been difficult for the owner thule's, -- for the honor to lease. region owner t -- the owner to lease. >> how long has it been vacant? >> about a year.

supervisor elsbernd: the predecessor, was it a formula of retail? >> it was. >> how large a space? >> 5500. >> it is already a formula of retail spot in that location. supervisor dufty: it was a video store, so it was priced out of the market by technology changing. it was something that changes. for me the question is about the variety of smaller merchants. >>